1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to radiator grills for automotive vehicles. More specifically, the invention relates to a side attachment arrangement for connecting a radiator grill to a bumper facia.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) presently conducts among other tests a low-speed bumper test on new vehicle models in order to assess performance and repair costs associated with damage resulting from the test. In this test, the vehicle is crashed four separate times at 5 mph—both front and rear bumpers into a flat barrier, the front bumper into an angle barrier and the rear bumper into a short pole. Ratings are then given on the usual “Good” to “Poor” scale based on repair costs.
Most vehicles today, especially passenger cars, utilize wrap-around style front bumpers and center radiator grills that are made of resin. Typically, the bumper and grill are each fixedly secured to the vehicle body or chassis using bolts, screws, push fasteners and the like. Resins have become the materials of choice for such applications, due to the relative light weight and design flexibility over comparable metal equivalents. Plastic bumpers and grills are, however, particularly susceptible to damage during frontal impacts, including low speed impact events similar to those encountered in the IIHS testing. During a low speed frontal impact event, such as the IIHS flat barrier test, it has been repeatedly observed in a variety of vehicles that the front bumper and grill are displaced relative to the vehicle chassis and damaged as a result. Often the bumper and/or grill are damaged to such an extent that they must be replaced. Replacement costs for these parts are relatively high and are often the root cause of “poor” IIHS performance ratings.
Thus, it remains desirable to provide a plastic bumper and grill design that is less susceptible to damage during low-speed frontal impacts, such as those encountered in IIHS testing.